This invention relates to beds. This invention also relates to equipment for use in hospitals, particularly rehabilitation hospitals, and other facilities for the care of injured persons. This invention relates particularly to equipment for use in the care of persons who have suffered brain injuries.
In the care of persons who have suffered brain injuries, a variety of specific problems are encountered. Brain-injury patients are generally not aware of their surroundings. They experience various degrees of agitation depending on the type and severity of the injury. Brain-injury patients often retain considerable physical strength. Agitated brain-injury patients may consequently be very difficult to restrain. Agitated brain-injury patients may injure themselves by hitting objects and falling out of bed.
In addition, light and noise may cause certain brain-injury patients to become agitated or increase the degree of agitation of such patients. Consequently, it is desirable to control the level of light and noise to which certain brain-injury patients are exposed. Nurses, physical therapists, and other health care providers must have access to the patient. Facilities must be provided for the care of brain-injury patients by hospitals and the like on very short notice.
Various structures and methods have been provided in the past for restraining brain-injury patients. Restraints such as straps are undesirable because they may cause additional agitation, are uncomfortable, require skin care on a frequent basis, and are time-consuming to apply and maintain. Family members of the patient often object to the use of restraints. Chemical restraints, which are used to reduce agitation, may have various undesirable side effects.
One approach used in the prior art is the providing of beds having walls. A design of such a bed in the prior art has four walls made of plywood, as a structural member, with covered padding on the interior, supported on a flat wooden base. Adjacent walls are attached to one another at corners of the bed by metal hinges. The bed is provided with walls of two different heights. Walls of approximately one foot in height and walls of approximately four feet in height are provided.
Various problems are encountered with the use of this walled bed. The plywood used as a structural member in the walls and the base absorbed moisture. Consequently, patient wastes could enter the plywood, which resulted in unsanitary conditions. Extremely agitated patients could cause the walls of the beds to move in such a manner as to indicate a lack of stability of the walls. The hardware of the metal hinges attaching the walls of the bed at the corners would become damaged after agitated patients had occupied the bed. The appropriate height of bed was not always available for patients. Less agitated patients require only the size of the bed having low walls. More heavily-agitated patients required the size of the bed having high walls. At times, a low-walled bed would be required, while only a high-walled bed was available. The walls and base of a bed, because of their plywood construction, were extremely heavy and cumbersome to move. As a result, two or more men were generally required for assembly of the bed. Brain-injury patients may arrive at a facility at any time. If appropriate members of the maintenance staff are not available for assembly of the bed, the difficulty of assembly of the heavy walls would make it impossible for the nursing staff to assemble the bed. The base and high walls of the bed, because of their size, were inconvenient to store.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a bed for a brain-injury patient, which will protect the patient against injuring himself, provide access to caregivers, be easy to assemble, be easy to clean of patient wastes, and be sufficiently strong to accommodate the violently-agitated patient.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bed for a brain-injury patient, wherein the configuration of the bed may be easily adjusted for particular patients.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment which follows.